Tatiana Volosozhar and Maxim Trankov: post-Worlds interview

"It's going to be very intersting at the WTT!"

A rather intersting interview of the pair appeared today here: http://www.team-russia2014.ru/article/figur/9822.html So I translated it and since I'm in no way aprofessional translator I apologise beforehand for all the quirks and mistakes I've made and haven't noticed.

- What were you feeling after the main start of the season’s end?
Maxim Trankov: Nothing. We have a burnout (laughs)
Tatiana Volosozhar: A very comfortable feeling (smiles)

- I bet, you’ve already received a countless number of congratulations! Any particular memorable ones?
T.V.: There were nothing that huge. Though I’ve received not just many text messages but a real flood of them. Ffirst of all, from the family and friends but also from all kinds of people.

- How important is this victory in the sight of the home Olympics? Is it important to arrive there as reigning world champions?
T. V.: There’ll be a lot of events before the Olympics start. So we have plenty of time to adjust to the rank (smiles)

-Was this victory at this championship crucial?
M.T.: Long-awaited, more like. We’ve constantly come in second and now, finally, this tendency has been broken. But it wasn’t a surprise to us. We ‘ve been skating while training and understood that we could win exactly now. We’ve seen in what shape our rivals have been and known that we’ve been stronger.

-There’ll be far more expectations from your pair. And probably, you’ve got accustomed to this kind of responsibility.
M. T.: We just don’t pay attention to everybody expecting something from us anymore.
T. V.: We’ve just got used to it.
M. T.: We are very self-rigorous and self-satisfaction is more important to us than to please other people.

-And when was it easier: when you just started skating together and when you just started to take the steps a pair or when you got used to each other?
T. V.: The first world championship was probably the toughest. The event was more like Olympics to us (smiles).
M. T.: And perhaps nothing and never will be as difficult. Now we are confident coming into any event.
T.V.: And we know each other much better now, we understand what emotion to expect in different situations.

-Can you say that, despite you winning all the major events this season, it ‘s been one of the most complicated and tricky seasons for you?
M. T.: Yes, because we’ve had a lot of messy performances, we’ve been making some weird mistakes all the time.
T.V.: The first half of the season was especially difficult.
M. T.: We admit that maybe we’ve relaxed a little this season. Before the worlds we’d had mad training and look what results we’ve got! Maybe something happened in the summer, I don’t know. It’s just impossible, with such technical base Tanya and I have, to make so many mistakes! Just take the toe loops, that I’ve been messing up in the second part of the program and been doing perfectly in practices, never have made a mistake! And the events started and I just couldn’t do them! I was simply freaking out and couldn’t understand what’s wrong and why it happens in the competitions. (laughs)

-Since you’s started making mistakes, you and your coach Nina Mozer have been showered with words of distrust and incomprehension. So how have you dealt with this kind of pressure?
M. T.: We’ve seat down in such situations and tried to think why we had been put in the first place though we should have lost. And then Nina Mikhailovna [Mozer] would show the protocols to us and explain: you’ve messed up the throw and the judges have give you -2 for that, but your base value is still higher. That’s why you are in the first place.
T. V.: We just always tried to understand why we’d made the mistakes. It’s just easier for people to judge based on if you fell or not. And nobody pays attention to what level of, let’s say, lifts the athletes execute.
M. T. We don’t need to go far for the examples: Patrick Chan has become the world champion in the men singles event, despite falling twice and has received two deductions. Maybe he’s seen awarded a bit too high PCS, out of habit, but I’m not a judge so it’s hard to determine that for me. But we’ve seen Patrick doing two quad jumps and Denis Ten doing one. And with this jumps Chan was able to score more, to compensate for the falls.
T.V. And then in such cases the pure math comes into play.
M.T.: Besides, Patrick won with just one point! He didn’t come ahead of the rivals with 40-50 points like he used to and he also lost in the free program. He had the points advantage from the short, that’s why often the situation is more complicated than “he fell – he didn’t fall”.

-You’ve been in such situations yourself this season. And it didn’t go without a bit of adventure this championship too. Maxim, after you fell catching up with Tatiana after the throw, what were you thinking about?
M. T.: I was very upset not only because we wouldn’t be able to get the desired round score of 150 points. It just we were skating the last and I did not know how well the previous teams had skated! And we had reserve of just two points from the short. And so I thought that would be some freaky hundredths of difference again all because of this ridiculous fall.! After all the Germans have the high technical score too.

-Tatiana, and why you was so sure after the skate?
T. V.: It’s just happened that I’d heard the scores that Aliona and Robin received for their free program (smiles). And that’s why after the skate I was more confident and told Maxim right away that it seemed like we’d won this championship.
M.T. I knew how many points the Germans had received but you never knew the score the judges would give to you! And I though, God forbid something would happen because of the fall.

-This season doesn’t end with the World championship for you this year. In the beginning of April you go to Tokyo (Japan) to compete at the World Team Trophy for the first time and the team event is now part of the Olymps, What do you think of this innovation?
M.T. The introduction of the team invent to Olympic Games would be interesting if not for the upsetting choice of the ISU concerning namely our sport. In all other disciplines - the relay in biathlon, for instance, happen after the main events. And we, for some reason, get the team event before the individual!
V.T. Before the pairs event we have something just about a day! But two replacements are possible…
M.T.: … it’s likely we won’t skate one of the programs in Sochi. At the Olympic Games, for example, Yura Larionov will skate the free program twice (laughs).
T.V.: We will give way to the young (laughs).

-And in general, is this team championship interesting to you?

T.V.: It is interesting for us to go now because it’s a new experience for us.
M.T We just need to try it because we’ve always refused to go.
T.V. And for sure it’ll be organized perfectly (smiles)! The Japanese will make the holiday out of it!
M.T.: And the Japanese are the most appreciative fans of the sportout there. Not to offend our [Russian] fans.
But the Japanese and the Koreans are the coolest fans …
V.T: .. who always root for the athletes…
M.T.: … and it’s always very nice to skate for them! They are always there with you – no matter if something bad happened or good, if you’ve won or lost! The figure skating is always source of positive or even negative emotions for them. We’ve been always asked to come to the WTT. And finally we will compete there!